


Are We Ready?

by venusemissary



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Conspiracy, Eventual McSpirk - Freeform, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Ghosts, M/M, Minor Christine Chapel/Nyota Uhura, Multi, Paranormal Investigators, Slow Burn, Trans Montgomery Scott, idiots to lovers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2020-02-15 17:10:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18673939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/venusemissary/pseuds/venusemissary
Summary: A sophomore in college, Jim Kirk is the leader of a small team of amateur paranormal investigators. When new student Spock enters the picture, Jim is hellbent on persuading him to join. There's just one small problem: Spock doesn't believe in ghosts.





	1. The Daily Grind

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first thing I've written on here, and I don't have much to say other than that the song 'Are We Ready? (Wreck)' by Two Door Cinema Club applies to the boys in this AU pretty well, and is also where the title came from. Enjoy!

Jim Kirk was seated in the back row of the classroom, right up against the wall and furthest away from the door. The sky outside was just _really_ beginning to darken, and from the window right next to him, he could see the gentle hues of purple and deep blue beginning to bleed into view. This was the perfect time of night to catch sight of the stars just as they began to peer out from their hiding place. It was times like this that he felt a familiar sort of ache within himself, a yearning in his soul; but for what, he wasn’t quite sure. He simply knew that he felt there was something more out there for him – that _he_ was meant for something more.

He continued to stare as the sky darkened further, and his eyes were just tracing the faint glow of Orion’s belt when the professor’s voice snapped him out of his trance. “James.”

“Wh- _mmf!_ ” Startled out of his thoughts, the young blond tried and failed to muffle a yelp as he knocked his ankle against the wall. In an attempt to conceal the fact that he had once again let his mind wander, he offered a nonchalant glance at the disrupter. “Yes, sir?”

“Apologies for the disturbance, Mr. Kirk.” Jim flinched at the formality as the all-too-serious professor spun on his heel and walked towards the front of the room, his hands behind his back. The middle-aged man stopped near the large whiteboard, where Jim finally noticed several considerably complicated-looking equations that definitely weren’t there before. How long had he been zoned out? “Would you care to provide us with the answer?” The smug look on his face had the younger man biting back a smart-ass reply. He couldn’t stand people who found joy in bringing others down, but the words his mother told him on more than one occasion echoed in his mind. _That mouth of yours is gonna land in you some serious trouble someday, Jim…_

“Well, sir,” Jim stood up and addressed the man who had clear intent to humiliate him, “I couldn’t be more honored.” He knew that the smile he shot his professor easily passed for genuine and most likely filled the man with even more contempt. Shifting his attention to the board, his eyes flicked around, and his mind got to work.

Hardly twenty seconds passed, and he had an answer.

“I think the answer you’re looking for is 4872.2, Professor.” It was Jim’s turn to be smug. 

There was a brief pause, and everyone sat in tense silence as the professor picked up his calculator and checked the math. The clicking of buttons stopped, and another few seconds passed where the lack of noise was almost deafening. Jim swore he could feel the older man trying desperately not to throw anything from across the room.

“That is… correct-” The last syllable was drowned out as he was cut off by the sound of his own alarm signaling the end of class. A prompt and uptight man, his classes began and ended on the dot, no excuses allowed. The room filled with the shuffling of a mass of students as everyone gathered their belongings, stacked up papers, zipped up their backpacks, and rushed to the door. The professor stood still, front and center, in what Jim could only assume to be stunned silence.

He grabbed his mostly-empty backpack and swung it up over his shoulder, clapping his now defeated-looking professor on the shoulder as he breezed by. “Good talk today.” There was no response. 

He continued out the door and down the wide hallway of the university, glad to be free of his final class for the week. His feelings of joy only grew as he stepped out into the cool night air and looked up at the sky above him, now completely dark and freckled with gently glowing stars. Though the end of summer and resurface of college classes didn’t thrill him, he definitely enjoyed the nights that slowly grew longer later in the year. Mesmerized, he continued to walk the familiar path with his head tilted up toward the sky.

Then he collided with someone.

Or, as he saw it, someone collided with him. Not hard enough to knock him down, but hard enough to slip his bag from his grasp and stop him in his tracks, momentarily stunned.

He couldn’t see the culprit well in the darkness, and the cheap outdoor lighting didn’t do much, but he could just make out that it was a tall, thin man with dark hair in what looked like a… bowl cut maybe? _Tacky_ , Jim thought.

“Oh- my apologies… but I would advise that you look where you’re headed in the future.” To Jim, the wording sounded passive aggressive, but the man’s tone betrayed this in favor of sincerity. It was confusing, but he realized that he was tired, and growing more so by the minute. He brushed it off.

“Yeah, no, uh- sorry about that. I was, uh… Just distracted.” Jim stumbled a bit over his words, his head suddenly full of fog and a desire to crawl under his covers for the next three days. “I’ll keep that in mind.” He picked his bag up and walked off, leaving the other man to ponder the odd interaction.

Fifteen minutes later, he threw open the door to the room he shared with his lifelong best friend and shut it behind him, leaning back against it with as much drama as he could muster.

Leonard McCoy didn’t even glance at his best friend before rolling his eyes and looking back down to the homework spread out across the desk where he sat. “Rough night?”

“Oh, y’know, just Professor Stick-Up-The-Butt giving me grief,” he tossed his belongings on the floor and pulled off his shirt, throwing it into the laundry basket at the foot of his bed. “Walked into some guy with a bad haircut on the way back. Same stuff as always.”

“Sounds like the ideal night, if you ask me,” Leonard chewed at the end of his pencil as he focused on the textbook in front of him. At the sound of his roommate shuffling objects around on his bedside table, he said, without looking up, “You left it on your desk.”

“Thanks, Bones.” Jim strode over to his desk and snatched up his toothbrush before taking a seat on the floor with a setup of multiple cups of water sitting before him. 

His friend looked at him and shook his head, used to the antics by now. “You know there’s a bathroom right down the hall you could brush your teeth in like a normal person, right?”

“O’m tryin’ ‘o be quiot,” was Jim’s garbled response, his mouth full of toothpaste. He spat into a cup, “It’s either this or the shower.”

_Ridiculous._ Giving up, Leonard changed the subject. “Still having that meetin’ tomorrow?”

“Uh-huh,” Jim finished getting himself ready and sat down on top of his bed. “Reserved a room in the library. You coming?”

“Well, as you know, there’s nothing I love more than spending time with your ghost hunting club-“

“Paranormal Investigation Crew,” Jim corrected, looking at his friend in feigned offense. Well, partially feigned.

“Right, that.” Leonard shut the textbook in front him, satisfied with his progress for the night. “Regardless, I’ve got some important work to get done this weekend.”

“C’mon, Bones, it's the weekend!” Jim sighed as he laid back on his bed. “Can’t you just take a break once in a while? Have a little fun? Relax? The semester just started.”

“Bein’ a med student ain’t easy, Jim. Besides, the semester started almost a month ago. What have you been _doing?_ ”

“Taking a break,” Jim mumbled sleepily as he settled himself down. “Having a little fun. Relaxing.” He nestled himself into the covers as his friend did the same in the bed opposite his. The former decided that it would be better to try and convince his friend at a later time. Right now, all he wanted was to sleep for, oh, _three days_. Leonard clicked off the light and settled in. They laid in the darkness for a few minutes and Jim stared up at the ceiling in thought. 

The silence was broken by his curiosity. “Have you seen a new guy around campus?”

It was a few seconds before he got a reply, but not quite an answer. A tired grumble from the other side of the room indicated that his friend was nearly asleep when he made his query. “I don’t know, Jim. ‘Least, I don’t think so.” A yawn interrupted his response. “But the campus is pretty big, ‘n there’s a lot of us. Hard to tell.” Jim figured the way his voice softly faded out meant that it was time to leave him alone to get some sleep. He spent several minutes staring up at the ceiling, thinking about anything and everything before sleep pulled him in as well.


	2. A Little Debate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Opposites attract, I guess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here she is! Sorry about being totally MIA for, like, three months. I was super busy/out of the country for one of them. The other two I don't really have much of an excuse for other than lack of energy. Nevertheless, I'm back with an update! And lots of ideas. So, fingers crossed for more frequent updates! Enjoy! <3

Jim had almost been ready to leave when he realized he didn’t have the flash drive. He crouched down in front of his bag in search of it. It was almost aggravating how such a small object could hold such importance to him, especially considering how easy it was to lose. He searched every pocket and pouch, even dumped the entirety of the bag’s contents onto his bed, but to no avail. To Jim, the elusive piece of plastic and metal meant the possibility of finding proof. It meant showing anyone who’d ever doubted him that he was right all along – that ghosts were real. To lose it meant losing that possibility – and that was something he couldn’t risk.

Taking quick, shallow breaths, he picked up his phone and located Leonard’s contact information. As he waited for an answer to his call, he began to chew on his nails, knowing full well how the man he hoped would pick up soon would react if he could see Jim now.

“ _Hello_?” came the slightly annoyed sounding voice from the other end.

Jim responded quickly, “Bones! Have you seen my flash drive?”

“ _Your what? Jim, I’m in the middle of_ \- “

“The flash drive! You know the one. With all my case information on it. The single most important thing I own.”

“ _Alright, drama queen, calm down. Are you breathing? Remember what we practiced. And don’t bite your nails_.” There was a short pause with some voices and clinking sounds in the background, and Jim tried to focus on evening out his breaths. He drew his hand from his mouth, which flickered with the smallest grin despite himself at how well his friend knew him. “ _I haven’t seen it. Maybe you dropped it somewhere?_ ” He thought for a moment before coming to a realization that wiped the trace of joy from his face.

“Shit,” he muttered, “I think I know where it might be.” Without waiting for a response, he ended the call and grabbed his jacket before dashing out the door and down the stairwell. His feet flew quickly beneath him and his breathing sped up once again. It only took him ten minutes to reach the spot on the sidewalk where he had collided with the strange man the night before. He searched the ground just as frantically as he had searched his bag, and with the same luck came up empty-handed.

After a good twenty minutes of retracing his steps, he stopped outside his dorm building in defeat. “I can’t believe this,” he muttered to himself. He tried to focus on his breathing again as he trudged along to the dining hall to meet with the rest of his team.

 

Numerous voices could be heard throughout the east dining hall as Jim made his way through the small line to swipe his card. The garble of noise prevented him from thinking clearly enough to come down from his current panic.

_I can’t believe I lost it_ , he thought. _Where the hell could it be_? He grabbed a plate with a mound of fries and entered the seating area, where he looked around for his friends. After a minute, a long, thin arm reached out from among the crowds and waved wildly at him. He began his trek to the table as a voice called out to him.

“Hey nerd, you’re late! Again.” The arm and the voice both belonged to his good friend Nyota Uhura, who smiled at him as he reached the table. He thanked the stars she wasn’t actually mad at him, though he knew he shouldn’t really have even worried in the first place. She was always patient. He hoped she would continue to be. He hoped they all would when they found out about the flash drive. He took a seat in the free chair next to another friend of theirs.

“So, what is it this time?” Hikaru Sulu looked at Jim in mock annoyance.

“I…” Jim paused for a moment and stared at his plate. “I messed up guys.”

“How so?” Christine Chapel was seated across from him. She took a sip of her drink – coffee, undoubtedly - before asking, “Professor Stick-Ass giving you trouble again?” Jim didn’t have the energy to correct her on the affectionate nickname.

“No. I sort of… lost the flash drive.” There was a pause as the information sunk in, and Jim began to feel guilty. It wasn’t just his work that he lost, it was everyone’s. This didn’t just mean a defeat for him.

“Well, what happened?” Uhura sat up straighter and looked at him with concern, but her voice was calm and even. “Could it be somewhere in your room? Did you ask Len? It’s got to be somewhere.”

“You know, it’s really not that big of a deal,” Sulu chimed in, “It might take us a while, but we could dig up all of that information again, assuming it even is lost for good.” Jim felt himself start to relax.

Appreciative of their understanding, he explained the situation. “I was walking back from class last night and some guy walked into me. I didn’t get a good look at him, but I dropped my bag, so I figured I must’ve dropped it somewhere outside. But I went back to look for it and it was gone.”

Uhura leaned back in her chair and her face relaxed again. “Oh! Well, then someone probably turned it in to the lost and found. We could head there after we eat and…” The end of her sentence faded off as she realized Jim was now no longer looking at her, but behind her. She turned to look in the same direction.

Several feet away, a figure walked in through the glass side door and glided over to their table, standing behind Christine and her girlfriend.

“I believe this belongs to you.” The tall man looked at Jim and held out his hand, something in his grasp. Offering his own hand, Jim felt a small object made of plastic and metal dropped into his palm. He was unable to focus on it, though, as he found himself face to face with the stranger from the night before.

Last night, the man had been nothing more than an inconvenient silhouette, briefly disrupting his weekly routine. Now, however, in the bright lighting of the east dining hall, Jim got a much clearer look. The man opposite him had defined features, framed by perfectly cut bangs that sat straight across his forehead. His cheekbones were high, and his face was almost harsh, but it was betrayed by a set of deep, warm brown eyes that looked at him with an intense and curious gaze. Jim noticed the gentle flecks of gold in his eyes and was just beginning to recall the beautifully starry sky from the night before when Uhura’s voice snapped him out of it.

“Earth to Kirk?” She waved a hand in front of his face.

“What? Oh, yeah.” He let out a breath he didn’t realize he had been holding and cleared his throat. “Thanks, uh- what’s your name?”

The man looked at him as if considering something before he answered, “Spock.”

“Jim Kirk.” He set down the flash drive and held out his hand. Spock shook his hand, albeit hesitantly, and Jim leaned back in his chair. “Care to join us?” Spock was silent again for a moment, and Jim tried not to study his face too hard in his attempt to decipher what he was thinking. In truth, he thought Spock looked like he wanted to say no. But the dark-haired man was a hard one to read.

“I do have some time to spare,” Spock surprised Jim with his answer. “I appreciate the offer.” He pulled a chair from a nearby vacant table and sat on the side closest to Jim.

The group engaged in idle chatter while they ate their meals, but Jim noticed that Spock, who hadn’t bought food, seemed quiet.

“Thanks again for returning the flash drive,” Jim looked at him as he took a bite of fry and offered him the tray. “You didn’t peek at anything, though, did you?” He joked, a half-grin on his face.

Spock looked at the fries and shook his head but gave a different answer to Jim’s question. “Actually, I did.” Jim nearly choked on his fry. Spock simply looked at him. “I did not get your name from our brief meeting yesterday. You ran off before I could alert you to your lost flash drive.” When Jim just stared in response, Spock continued, “It was logical to assume the drive would hold some documentation of its owner’s identity.”

“So, you…” Jim felt his face grow warm. This guy probably thought he was a total lunatic. As proud as he was of his pastime, and all the work he had put into it, it was always a bit nerve-wracking to share his findings with strangers. People were often skeptical, and not always nice. “So, you just looked through the contents of my flash drive? What if there was… what if there was something personal on there?” He managed to keep his voice cool.

“Why would one keep sensitive information on something so easily lost? I was doubtful anyone would be keeping any secrets on a device handled in such a careless manner.”

Jim wanted to argue but decided instead to test the waters. “Well, what did you think of what you did find?” He found himself curious about this new student and decided it couldn’t hurt to simply see what his thoughts were regarding one of Jim’s personal favorite topics.

“It was…” Once again, Spock paused in thought. He glanced at a couple of different points in the room as if looking for the right word out in the world around him. “…Interesting.” He looked back at Jim. “Though I have to admit, I find much of the reasoning behind your studies flawed.”

“Flawed?” Jim furrowed his brow at the other man. “What do you mean?”

“Well, to begin with, the science itself is faulty. While many studies have been completed on the subject of paranormal phenomena, very few have come to any sort of logical conclusion. Many have been officially labeled inconclusive.” Jim chewed on the inside of his cheeks as Spock went on. “Additionally, most of the so-called “proof” on the topic is that of first-hand experience, but very rarely have scientific tests or legitimate data to back up the accounts. And what “tests” have been run are often proven to be insubstantial.“ There was another pause before he finished. “But the fault that stood out most to me was the theory on paranormal energies. With every piece of “evidence” addressed, and every- “

“Okay, okay, I get it!” Jim cut him off rather abruptly, causing everyone at the table to look at him. Though he was a bit curious to hear the rest of what Spock had to say, he was almost certain it would be along the same lines as what everyone else always told him. He also didn’t want to subject his friends to the same dream-bashing he was currently receiving. While he was used to being called crazy by those he confided in about his belief in the paranormal, he wanted to protect them from that kind of judgment. “So, you disagree with my findings.”

“I would hardly call them findings of- “

“They are findings!” He defended. “Look, regardless of whether or not you really agree with the particular information on the drive, you’ve gotta admit there’s at least some chance of paranormal phenomena being legitimate, right?” He looked at Spock expectantly. Spock gazed back at him, and Jim suddenly found it incredibly frustrating that his face was _just so damn unreadable_.

With a glance at the clock, Spock suddenly stood up. “I am afraid I have to leave now if I want to make my next class,” he announced to the table, most of which had gone silent and stared on at the interaction between himself and Jim. “We should continue this conversation at a later time, Jim,” he addressed the blond. “I found it rather compelling.” With that, he returned his chair to the table beside them and left the dining hall at a brisk pace.

Jim looked to his friends, who suddenly pretended they hadn’t had their eyes glued to the entire interaction. “He enjoyed that?”

Sulu shrugged and chuckled at his friend, “I don’t think he was the only one.” Jim opened his mouth to protest before his friend stood up and spoke again, “I’ve gotta get going, too. I promised Ben we’d walk to class together today.”

Uhura gave a small ‘ _ooh_ ’ before resting her chin in her hands and asking, “Who’s Ben?”

Sulu froze for only a split second before continuing to gather his things. Avoiding eye contact, he mumbled something that not a single other person at the table heard before walking off, dumping his tray on the way out.

“I think somebody’s got a crush,” Chapel teased, looking at her girlfriend, whose gaze she followed to find it lingering on Jim.

“I don’t think he was the only one,” she echoed Sulu’s remark as she peered curiously at Jim, whose eyes remained thoughtfully trained on the door his new acquaintance had left through only a minute ago.

 

The dim lights of the library gave the large room a warm feeling as Jim made his way from the large front doors to the seating section in the back. Quiet chatter alerted him to where his friends were located, and he quickly found them. Chapel and Uhura were seated next to each other on a worn-looking couch, and, to his surprise, Leonard was in the chair next to them. Jim set down his bag and took the last couch seat on the other side of Uhura.

“Where’s Sulu?” He questioned. The girls both shrugged, and Leonard made an ‘I don’t know’ noise.

As if on cue, their other friend rounded the corner of a bookshelf and dropped his bag onto the table with a dull thud. “You’ll never believe who’s in my stats class.”

Jim looked up at Sulu. “Is he as pretentious as he was at lunch?”

“Oh, _indescribably_ so,” came his sarcastic reply as he dropped himself into the last available chair, “He argued with the professor about “inconclusive” statistics tests and whether or not stats could be considered “findings.”” Jim shook his head at Sulu, who just gave him a playful half-grin.

He turned to his roommate in the chair beside him. “So, what made the all-powerful Leonard McCoy decide to grace us with his presence at this particular meeting?” The man rolled his eyes.

“Don’t flatter yourself. I’m only here for a few minutes; I’ve got a lotta homework to get through. I just wanna stay up-to-date – what’s this about a new guy you’re flirtin’ with?”Jim’s glance shot to Chapel.

“You told him already?” She shrugged, giving him look that reasoned ‘you never said not to,’ and he turned back to his roommate. “I wasn’t- we weren’t-“ As he stumbled over his words, the two med students shared a knowing look. Jim sighed. “There was no flirting! He just…returned my flash drive. Turns out, he looked through it and didn’t agree with what he found. We had a… debate.” His choice of words elicited a snort from Chapel. “Enough from you,” he pointed a finger at her but smiled in spite of himself. “Enough about him, at least. Now that everyone’s here...” he pulled out his laptop, set it on the table in the center, and pulled out the flash drive. “Let’s get down to business.”


End file.
